Neil Griffin (IWR Researcher) was invited to teach in the Tropical Biology Association's field course held at the Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya. The 2018 course was a month long, and was aimed at an MSc level. Students come from several countries in Europe and Africa in roughly equal numbers. The course is broadly on tropical ecology and conservation, and uses a variety of teaching techniques such as field exercises, discussions, debates and lectures, leading up to a short research project that is designed, undertaken, and written up and presented by small student groups. Among other projects that students undertook, one group assessed the impact of the town of Nanyuki and surrounding flower and vegetable farms on the ecological health of the Nanyuki River. The Nanyuki River is part of the Mount Kenya highland-lowland system, which has seen conflict between water users, particularly agriculture in the highland areas and pastoralists in the lower, drier reaches. The impact of the town on aquatic macroinvertebrates was found to be relatively low, but progressive impacts of agriculture were found, particularly in the lower reaches of the stretch surveyed.